Here is a classic case of very poor reporting on Aboriginal matters and completely made-up ‘songlines’ fooling government Ministers.
“Plibersek’s intervention came after an 11th-hour campaign by some members of the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri Indigenous community, who argued that the river’s headwaters were significant because they were described in culturally significant songlines about a mythical blue-banded bee.”
The two tribes’ different spelling is the key here. The Wiradjuri, with a ‘j’, are the traditional people around Orange. They number around 30,000. They have not opposed the mine. The Wiradyuri, with a ‘y’, is a recent breakaway group. It registered itself as the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation (WTOCWAC) with three members a few years ago.
It lobbied Plibersek to stop the gold mine due to the ‘blue-banded bee songlines’ associated with the area. The most senior elders of the dominant Wiradjuri said they have never heard of a blue-banded bee prior to a mural being commissioned in 2022 by the local council and WTOCWAC of artist Birrunga Wiradyuri who painted a 17-metre-tall blue-banded bee mural on the Bathurst post office.
Prior to 2022, there is neither oral nor written history of a blue-banded bee dreaming or songline.
It appears to have been made up by the artist. So, in short, Plibersek was conned by the same meddlesome minority mob that put in a claim on Mt. Panorama.
